Back at the Railroad Dump Site (Handblown Insulators!!)

[MrSchulz]

Brent and I went to the woods for about 2.5 hours. We didn't find much with the metal detectors but did dig a 1960's pop top.. nothing special. Lost my favorite shovel out there, but it paid off finding the handblown insulators. Had a great time and dug some nice artifacts. After being there over dozen times, we thought we had gotten all the relics out, but we still got 4 handblown insulators including a very very very nice H.C. Co. handblown insulator.


(The Audio at the start is not as loud as rest of the video, error on my part but it gets louder after 30 seconds)

 

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[NOLA_Ken]

Nice finds on the insulators, but I have to tell you, none of them are "hand blown" all of them were made in molds. The reason they look so crude and have big runs and bubbles in them is that they were made using low quality glass and they were strictly utilitarian items, so no one cared how they looked. Also the glass they used was generally recycled glass and a lot of the blue and green glass started it's life as slag glass from blast furnaces.

Keep searching the area, the ones I saw in your video are fairly common types, but you never know when a nice less common type will turn up.

 

[MrSchulz]

Nice finds on the insulators, but I have to tell you, none of them are "hand blown" all of them were made in molds. The reason they look so crude and have big runs and bubbles in them is that they were made using low quality glass and they were strictly utilitarian items, so no one cared how they looked. Also the glass they used was generally recycled glass and a lot of the blue and green glass started it's life as slag glass from blast furnaces.

Keep searching the area, the ones I saw in your video are fairly common types, but you never know when a nice less common type will turn up.

Thanks for your help.. from my research I know they began to dump there in 1949 and stopped in 1993. I've pulled all the rubber ones and all that out (just set them aside). But why is there so many bubbles in it if it wasn't blown in a mold or handblown?

HH
MrSchulz

 

[NOLA_Ken]

It's mainly to do with the quality of the glass, and the production process. They weren't going for perfection in these things, just function. Also the glass was not the best quality to begin with. Slag glass was used a lot and it's a byproduct of blast furnaces so in one batch you'd get all sort of different glass mixed together. When you look at newer insulators you can see that the process improved over time and bubbles and runs in the glass are less common. If you hold them up to the light you can generally find the mold lines on them.

Your H G Co insulators could be pre 1900 and probably are if they look crudely made. Have a look at these sites:

Hemingray.info - Home of the Hemingray Glass Insulator Database

HEMINGRAY GLASS COMPANY

 

[MrSchulz]

It's mainly to do with the quality of the glass, and the production process. They weren't going for perfection in these things, just function. Also the glass was not the best quality to begin with. Slag glass was used a lot and it's a byproduct of blast furnaces so in one batch you'd get all sort of different glass mixed together. When you look at newer insulators you can see that the process improved over time and bubbles and runs in the glass are less common. If you hold them up to the light you can generally find the mold lines on them.

Your H G Co insulators could be pre 1900 and probably are if they look crudely made. Have a look at these sites:

Hemingray.info - Home of the Hemingray Glass Insulator Database

HEMINGRAY GLASS COMPANY

Yeah I found the Mold Line. I still believe they are old, if not atleast blown in a mold. The sure look like it. Thanks for your help.